Ohio State Football Players Hug Sports Anchor Who Returned to Work After Death of Daughter

After the Ohio State college football team defeated Wisconsin on Saturday, every player on the Ohio State team movingly lined up to embrace a local sports anchor who had returned to his job after the death of his 21-year-old daughter.

The moment was caught on video, and one can see how moved Dom Tiberi, the sports director at the CBS affiliate WBNS-10TV in Columbus, is in the footage.

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Tiberi, who has been a sports anchor in Ohio since 1981, “lost his 21-year-old daughter Maria in a car crash on September 17 and returned to work little over a week later.”

According to the Daily Mail, Tiberi’s daughter Maria, “herself an Ohio State student, died after her Toyota Corolla struck a tractor-trailer” on September 17.

Tiberi, welling up with emotion, thanked viewers for their love and support.

“It’s never going to be the same. A little piece of me died,” Tiberi said. “We’re going to try to make a positive out of this and thanks for sticking with me.”

The principal of Dublin Coffman High School, where his daughter attended, said Maria was a “wonderful young lady.”

“I will never forget and can still picture her amazing smile that she so effortlessly blessed us with each day,” principal Mike Ulring said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Tiberi family as they remain great friends of Coffman High School and the Dublin Community.”